The potential use of existing public transport electricity supply infrastructure for future multimodal electric urban mobility schemes has been considered at an event organised by UITP, The International Association of Public Transport in Brussels. The move towards more electric mobility in urban areas will require major investment in the supporting electric grid and charging infrastructure, and existing systems used by trams, metros and railways could potentially be leveraged for wider benefi

T There’s little disagreement that electrification is the best power system for most railways. But what should be done about branch lines where the business case might not be as clear as that for mainline railway electrification? Without it, through trains from the mainline need to be diesel powered even while travelling the majority of their time under the wires – and diesel trains are less efficient and less reliable than electric ones. Two contrasting approaches in the UK give so

JR Central has put its latest-generation Shinkansen train, the N700A into service from Tokoyo to Osaka. The 300km/h 16- car tilting trains seating 1323 passengers feature a number of improvements, including LED lighting (which is around 20% more efficient), bogie vibration detection, enhanced ATC, sound absorption throughout and improved brake discs which reduce braking distances by up to 10%. The 13 new trains also feature a new cruise control system, the fixed speed running device, which re

It’s 50 years since the publication in 1963 of two pivotal reports on British transport: The Reshaping of British Railways by Dr Richard Beeching, and Traffic in Towns by Colin (later Sir Colin) Buchanan. Both represented sea changes in the accepted transport wisdom of the time. What do they tell us today? Beeching’s report said that the then railway network was a financial basket case, with too many little used and loss-making secondary routes. It called for a focus on core routes

Chinese electric bus specialist BYD and Bulmineral Ltd of Bulgaria have signed an agreement to create a 50:50 joint venture company, named Auto Group Motors, to produce electric buses in Europe. This is claimed to be the first electric bus JV company in Europe and the first overseas electric vehicle JV for BYD. BYD, which is the worlds largest all-electric bus manufacturer, will manufacture pure electric buses in Breznik, Bulgaria, targeting both local markets in Bulgaria and elsewhere in Europ

The UK Technology Strategy Board is launching a funding programme for business-led innovation to stimulate the development of fuel cell and hydrogen technologies, with two new competitions: ‘Building Fuel Cell Manufacturing and the Supply Chain’ (up to £5 million) and ‘Supporting European Collaboration in Fuel Cells and Hydrogen’ (up to £1 million). The second project has the aim of encouraging collaboration with potential European partners to enable the deve

The European Bus System of the Future project is an initiative of the EU Commission under the Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development. Running from September 2008 to September 2012, it was a four-year project with an overall budget of E26 million (E16 million co-funded) and coordinated by UITP, the International Association of Public Transport. The project was seen as a major opportunity for bus manufacturers and operating authorities to transform the image of bus

I t might be a conventional heavy rail infrastructure operator, but Britain’s Network Rail has been doing some very unconventional thinking about what sort of vehicles could run passenger services on its tracks. Railways don’t have to be operated by trains, it acknowledges. Blended mode technologies like guided buses and tram-trains might be just as appropriate, and even trains themselves might operate differently to today’s conventional understanding. Network Rail’s &

Wireless charging systems for buses are already in use in the Italian cities of Turin and Genoa. The UK’s first electric bus service to use inductive wireless charging is to be launched next summer in Milton Keynes. The project will see eight all-electric buses replace diesel vehicles on route 7 operated by Arriva. Rather than having to have their batteries recharged at the depot, the vehicles will use inductive charging technology to recharge on the street. Power transmitted from a pri

A trio of 11m-long Optare Versa EVs now entering service with Travel De Courcey in Coventry are the largest battery-powered electric buses currently running in the UK, with a passenger capacity of over 50. They are being supported in service by two ABB Terra 51 fast-charging stations, designed to charge their batteries to full capacity in under two hours. The system offers the company the ability to recharge the batteries during the day during a layover, as well as overnight. This provides the

A demonstration run by the UK’s first hydrogen-powered locomotive was a feature of the seventh International Hydrail Conference on July 3-4, hosted by the University of Birmingham and sponsored by the Birmingham Centre for Railway Research & Education. The 260 mm gauge locomotive had been built by the university’s students and staff to compete in the Institution of Mechanical Engineers’ inaugural Railway Challenge contest. Built mainly from off-the-shelf components, it is

CSR Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive in China has unveiled a prototype light metro trainset which uses supercapacitor energy storage to operate without an external power supply. Developed in conjunction with Chinese Academy of Engineering, the trainset has underfloor power pick-ups which are used to charge the roof-mounted supercapacitor unit from a fixed supply while the train is stood at a station. Charging takes 30 sec and can power the train for 2 km. Energy regenerated during braking is recover

The future of public transport in Britain will be more electric, the UK government has decided, as it begins the process of catching up with mainland European thinking on public transport power supply. It has given the go ahead to substantial electrification works on the country’s rail network, and a commitment to fund plans to reintroduce the first electric trolleybuses in the country, since the last one was withdrawn from Bradford in 1972. While European mainland railways are electrifi

New buses from manufacturer VDL have achieved claimed significant additional weight savings which reduce fuel consumption, so cutting costs and improving operators’ environmental impact. The Transport Publics 2012 exhibition saw VDL displaying its Citea Light Low Entry model, which is an innovative, low weight concept for a low-entry single deck bus designed for both city and intercity transport. New methods of construction have resulted in a very low weight, leading to considerably lowe

Energy  use in transport is currently far from being sustainable. Across Europe, energy consumption for passenger and freight transport has increased in line with the rise in transport demand over the last few decades, putting heavy pressure on fossil fuel resources as well as increasing emissions of greenhouse gases. Transport is the only sector where energy consumption and CO2 emissions continue to grow, and it is now responsible for around 25% of total EU greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

We’re a pretty insular lot – us Brits that is. And I reckon we’re particularly insular in transport thinking, and how we make the best of our railways and improve their sustainability. For years we swallowed the Government’s mantra that rail electrification was not an important idea, whilst everyone else around the world was busy electrifying like it was going out of fashion. Were we right and the rest wrong? I don’t think so, and the wheel has turned full circle. D

A range of innovative concepts have been emerging to provide rail based transport solutions for areas of low demand over short distances. The fruits of both individual inventors and large companies looking for the next technology, they have featured smaller, alternatively powered vehicles capable of running on both existing and new track for journey lengths of 2kms or so. The quest has been to find economical and attractive links to the main rail networks that can replace conventional branch li

The announcement by the UK Department for Transport (DfT) that it is to press ahead with a long-mooted pilot scheme to test the Tram-Train concept in South Yorkshire finds it hard to explain why the government really thinks a trial of an already proven technology is necessary. After all, systems where the line between a tramway and a suburban railway has been blurred to achieve a new form of connectivity are now well established in Europe, and even in the UK. Perhaps the British project has less

The public transport industry makes surprisingly little numerical play on its carbon credentials, but carbon calculators can demonstrate to potential users that by taking public transport they are doing something virtuous. Some public transport websites do provide personal carbon calculators which allow users to compare the carbon impact of their journey with that of the same car journey. Both the UK Department for Transport’s Transport Direct website and Germany’s DB travel inform

With dense populations and small footprints, urban areas offer one of the most fertile grounds for promoting sustainable transport, yet transport operators and local politicians seem often to fail to make best use of this opportunity. The rising cost of fuel is making car users think about other journey options, and young people postpone getting a licence or a car. This is a big opportunity for change. Good network design offers opportunities for public transport to improve its environmental ef

There was considerable media coverage earlier this year when the UK’s Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders published its 2012 New Car CO2 Emissions Report, and announced that the automotive industry was playing its part in combating climate change. According to SMMT’s figures, a new car bought in the UK is now 18.0% more efficient than the average car in use in the UK. A new car in 2011 emitted 27.2% less CO2 than one did 15 years ago while CO2 emissions from all cars in use be

At Arriva’s UK bus division, a £1.5m programme is being initiated to reduce use of energy and utility resources. The programme has been driven primarily by the need to look across the business to minimise costs in response to challenging trading conditions. However, the new focus is also designed to deliver significant environmental benefits. Financial payback on the programme is expected within two years, demonstrating the value that targeted investments in environmental sustainabil

By 2021, the world’s automotive industry will be producing some eight million hybrid electric cars a year, according to industry expert Dr Peter Harrop.  It will be only a part of what Harrop, who spoke at New Transit’s Electric Futures event in London in April, expects to become a US$260bn-plus market for electric vehicles, including many buses. He is the chairman and founder of consultancy and publisher IDTechEx, which specialises in electric vehicles, printed electronics and

The vision of smart electric energy transfer to public transport vehicles in short bursts as they operate in urban areas may be close to being realised. Certainly that’s the belief of  pioneers like Conductix Wampfler who have been trialing the IPT Charge system  in Italy for 10 years, and demonstrating that the technology establishes electric buses as a real option. Advocates believe that for local public transport in particular, the electric bus is the mode of the future being

Smarter lighting across vehicles and premises has caught the attention of transport operators seeking to reduce costs as well as carbon emissions. Rolling stock leasing company Porterbrook trialled an LED-based lighting system on a suburban train in the West Midlands during 2009. It monitored ambient lighting and adjusted lighting levels accordingly, estimated to save 129 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year, through reduced electricity consumption, if rolled out to the rest of the West Midlands el

It is a win-win situation when the engineering, commercial and marketing departments of passenger transport organisations can find common cause in their business objectives, and a shared message to present to the public and political decision-makers. But the idea of ‘going green’ is increasingly providing just that opportunity - with improved economic and environmental credentials going hand-in-hand. Applying smarter thinking about how bus and rail systems are designed, equipped and

Public transport has long traded on its green credentials and the lower carbon emissions which attend to passenger journeys on buses, trains, trams, and other sustainable modes, compared to similar trips in the private car. But, it is not enough to stand still in this area, not least because the fuel efficiency and other eco-credentials of new cars are improving rapidly, and the motor industry is already strongly promoting new cars as a greener choice too. In a difficult economic climate invest

Within 10 years, most of the world’s buses will be electric (mainly hybrids), industry consultant Dr Peter Harrop told New Transit’s ’ April conference on Electric Futures for Public Transport. He expects hybrids to become more like pure electrics over time, looking forward to new developments in supercapacitors, and on-vehicle lamination of electrics bringing huge weight savings. He forsaw large, flexible rooftop solar panels; and multiple energy harvesting (eg from shock abso

We’ve commented before in New Transit about the ways in which the transport modes are coming together, with public transport increasingly seen as a key element in an integrated mobility offer. What we couldn’t have forecast however, was the fact that two very senior men from Ford Motor Company would be featuring in the same issue for their major impact on thinking and leadership of the passenger transport sector. In February, the head of Ford gave his thoughts on the future of tran

Continuing economic uncertainty and spending restraints have depressed the UK bus vehicle market, but the industry has had one bright spot from the £25 million on offer under the Government’s Green Bus Fund III initiative. “I’m happy not to be gloomy about 2012”, Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders’ Bus and Coach Section Chair Adrian Wickens says. The Volvo Bus Product Planning Manager expects to see full take-up of the third-round extension of the fu

­T­­he ‘rail product’ is only as strong as its weakest link, and that link is often the station. So it’s good to see some real positives emerging on the station front. Both big and small. I had a heart-warming start to 2012 when I travelled on a local train, in the ‘investment-starved’ North of England, and stopped at a brand new and impressive station. It’s called ‘Buckshaw Parkway’, located between Leyland and Chorley in Lancashire,

The early ‘Wild West’ days following UK bus industry deregulation are most often characterised as a period of destructive bus wars and cost cutting.  Yet it is a period that Stagecoach chief executive Sir Brian Souter believes has some still-relevant lessons for the way the industry should develop over the next decade. In many respects the late 1980s were a period of innovation and product development as well as competitive excesses, he believes. Initiatives included new high f

For railway systems  there are a range of areas of activity to improve electric traction efficiency with both short, medium and long-term horizons. They range from grid-wide issues including harnessing wasted power and returning it for re-use, to adopting the latest hybrid technology from the automotive sector. A report this year on an Energy Roadmap for the European Railway Sector, by the European Rail Research Advisory Council looked at a dozen topics ranging from infrastructure and powe

The latest electric bus from Polish builder Solaris is based on the 8.9 m Urbino family midibus. At the heart of its power system is a 120 kW four-pole asynchronous traction motor supplied by Vossloh Kiepe. Energy is stored in two batteries weighing 700 kg each. These liquid-cooled lithium-ion batteries have a rated voltage of 600 V and the capacity to store 120 kWh. The battery capacity gives the Solaris Urbino electric a claimed range of up to 100 km and a maximum speed of 50 km/h. The bat

Though BAE Systems is a UK multinational, which has harnessed capability from across its varied industrial experience to develop a leading role in power systems for transport, the core development of hybrid buses took place in the USA, where BAE Systems acquired Lockheed Martin Control Systems over a decade ago. A global pioneer was New York City Transit, which introduced heavy-duty hybrid technology in 1998 with four new Orion hybrid buses with the Lockheed System. Under an ambitious project

Electric power has always been an important feature of attractive and efficient public transport. Metros and other urban railways could not operate without it, and commuter and inter city trains have benefited hugely from electrification. Trams leapt forward by converting from horse drawn power to electric, while trolley buses were another step forward for urban bus transport. Wholly electric buses without wires have never yet been a practical solution, but the application of hybrid electric d

There is a tendency for important new technologies to find initial adoption slowly, and then witness a relative explosion of general application. There are several understandable reasons for this: scepticism about their value and significance; innate conservatism in the industries they will affect (coupled with some institutional resistance); and unattractive early economics, which make them seem expensive until the real benefits are demonstrated and the cost per unit comes down with volume pr

UK Train passenger numbers have jumped 5.3% in the period June to September, according to the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC). This would confirm that the railways are set for their busiest peacetime year since the 1920s with more than 1.3bn journeys expected to have been made by train by the end of this year. ATOC said one of the reasons behind the rise in rail travel is the increasingly high price of petrol, leading more leisure travellers to switch from road to rail on summer

A fleet of 21 Stagecoach buses fitted with BAE System’s hybrid electric propulsion system is now in service across Sheffield. The launch of the double deck buses, powered by BAE System’s HybriDrive® Series system, took place on 18 September. This follows the rolling out of similar hybrid electrically powered buses in London, Reading, Oxford, Manchester, Newcastle, Hull and Edinburgh over the past 18 months. Meanwhile, bus operator London United has reported that its fleet of 27

GreenRoad’s 360 fleet driver performance and safety management system has been enhanced to allow speeding and engine idling analysis as well as extended data integration. The new functions will improve the system’s ability to cut fuel costs and reduce accidents, said Glenn Pereira, director of product marketing at GreenRoad. The speed performance feature means that drivers are made aware in real time if they are speeding. An in-vehicle device monitors the movement of the vehicle to

The concept of vehicles drawing their energy supply from electric power as they move is not new. Trains, trams and trolley buses have done it for decades. But for road vehicles to be able to pick up their fuel without a physical connection would be a radical step. It is one which Bombardier believe is possible by inductive power transfer. With thinking initially developed to give trams and buses a wire-free energy source, the concept is now being promoted as a potential energy source for all r

A fleet of Stagecoach buses that run on household rubbish and animal waste has taken to the road. The recycled waste is converted into biomethane, which will cut emissions by 40% and help reduce landfill, said the operator. The project has been launched in Lincoln in partnership with Lincolnshire County Council and the East Midlands Development Agency. Stagecoach has converted 11 Optare Solo buses from its Lincoln fleet to run on the low carbon fuel. Funding for the £260,000 conversion pr

The Competition Commission’s 17-month inquiry into local bus markets has found that competition between operators is highly limited throughout most of the country and on individual routes in towns and cities where more than one bus company operates. In its provisional findings, the commission concluded that passengers in these areas could expect less frequent services and in some cases higher fares than in places where there is more competition. But the most draconian measures for promot

An independent report commissioned by Network Rail has cleared former chief executive Iain Coucher of allegations claiming he had taken illicit payments and rejected claims that the company had used offshore accounts and cash payments to discourage departing employees from talking publicly about the reasons for leaving or taking legal action. The report also said: “It is hard to avoid the conclusion that the TSSA (Transport and Salaried Staff Association) introduced a series of increasing

One of the great achievements of UK Government transport policy in the late 1960s was the creation of the passenger transport executives (PTEs) in metropolitan areas outside London. Well-funded and politically accountable, they achieved great things in developing integrated passenger networks from previously fragmented elements. The last few years have seen some of that momentum slipping away in Britain, whilst their European equivalents have flourished. It’s a long time since the PTEs ow

One of the key findings of the McNulty review was that the effectiveness of research, development, testing and innovation in the UK rail industry lags behind other railways and industries. A research project by consultancy Atkins carried out for the review developed an Innovation Index to identify trends over the last 20 years and assess where the UK rail industry sits in comparison with other organisations. The conclusion was that innovation in has improved over the last 10 years, but still la

The UK railway revolution begun by the privatisation legislation in 1993 has been an almost permanent one. The pioneering approach, now increasingly being applied elsewhere, has not been the smoothest journey. Over the past year, the government has been keen to promote the McNulty review of costs and efficiencies as an exercise in evolution not revolution. It has not quite turned out that way. Its conclusions are radical and far reaching and likely to lead to a further major change in industry s

The British government prompted Competition Commission inquiry into local bus services may not have been billed as a means of creating a new framework for the bus industry to better meet public policy objectives. But there is no doubt this was its subtext. After 16 months of investigations, the Commission’s provisional findings have come no closer to success  than the politicians who have been berating ‘profiteering’ operators for the past two decades since de-regulation a

The transport charity Campaign for Better Transport has welcomed the Department for Transport’s new Decision Making Review. But it warns that the real test will be how it is applied and highlights the need for a proper transport strategy to support the review. The campaign’s chief executive, Steven Joseph, said: “The review and associated changes to transport appraisal include many changes we’ve been arguing for, including looking at a wider range of options, testing pro

There was a distinct air of confidence about the future of public transport at the 59th UITP World Congress and Exhibition held in Dubai at the beginning of April. Whilst the 2000 delegates from 80 countries were hearing presentations relating to the Congress theme of ‘PT x 2’- the aim of doubling the public transport market share worldwide by 2025- there were many examples of innovation and imagination in vehicles, equipment and operational and marketing support systems to be seen

An ‘eco-driving’ system has been launched by Stagecoach for its bus operations in? Scotland, England and Wales. From April 13,800 Stagecoach drivers began using the GreenRoad ?system to help reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions, improve ?passenger comfort and cut the risk of accidents.?? Stagecoach is hoping to achieve a 4% drop in fuel consumption using the technology, which is being rolled out to its fleet of 6,500 buses outside London. The GreenRoad 360 system uses a da

The Department for Transport has announced how its £46m Green Bus Fund has been distributed. The fund will result in 542 new hybrid and electric low carbon buses being introduced in England by March 2012. With the money paid to 20 operators and six local authorities as part payment for the vehicles. “Low carbon buses emit around 30 per cent fewer greenhouse gas emissions than standard diesel buses and use around a third less fuel – that is why it was so important to kick-start

Transport operators will benefit from tax changes announced by Chancellor George Osborne in the budget. A 1p cut in fuel duty has been announced with immediate effect and the fuel duty escalator, which would have seen duty rise by inflation plus 1p/litre, will be abolished. However, Simon Posner, chief executive of the Confederation of Passenger Transport, said that the change would not have a significant impact on easing pressure on bus companies. “Despite this change, our bus services r

Why is she on the list? As chair of the House of Commons’ transport select committee, Ellman’s role is to scrutinise the Department for Transport. What kind of year has she had? Power in Westminster may have changed hands in 2010 but the Labour MP for Liverpool Riverside was re-elected to her post as chair of the Commons transport select committee. The second half of the year saw the committee publish reports on the performance of the Department for Transport and London Undergroun

Why is she on the list? The Chipping Barnet MP Villiers is the transport minister responsible for rail, London (including Crossrail) and aviation. What kind of year has she had? Mixed. Villiers will have been delighted to become a minister but the moment must have been tinged with disappointment at missing out on the top job at the Department for Transport. Villiers served as shadow secretary of state for transport for almost three years prior to last year’s election, but it was Philip

Why is he on the list? Gisby is the Network Rail board member responsible for ensuring trains run on time and minimising the impact of Network Rail's engineering work on train operations. What kind of year has he had? In a speech last Autumn, Gisby signalled the start of the change of direction for Network Rail that chairman Rick Haythornthwaite has started, and David Higgins has helped to steer behind the scenes, before he formally takes up the role of chief exective in February. Gisby proms

Why is he on the list? The OFT has a big influence on public transport in the UK. Fingleton and his colleagues assess whether markets work well for consumers. Critics accuse the OFT of applying rigid economic theories that do not relate to the realities of markets. What kind of year has he had? In 2009 the OFT launched its market study into the supply of local bus services and this concluded that there was evidence to suggest that limited competition may be leading to higher prices for bus us

A new report has been published by watchdog Passenger Focus in partnership with Milton Keynes Council that has investigated what stops residents of the Buckinghamshire new town from using buses and what steps need to be taken in order to encourage them to do so. The Barriers to bus use in Milton Keynes report, which was produced by consultancy Outlook Research, has found that punctual buses, finding bus stops and obtaining information about services are the main factors that deter local residen

In anticipation of growing demand for hybrid-powered buses in the UK and Europe, BAE Systems has invested around £7m in a state-of-the-art service facility for HybriDriveTM system, in Rochester, Kent. The facility has the space to accommodate a single deck bus, but this area is currently housing an armoured personnel carrier. Such is the nature of BAE Systems’ diverse £22bn business. The company is best known for its work in the defence, security and aerospace sectors, and

Bus companies using 21st Century’s award-winning fuel management system EcoManager are finding that the system is identifying the optimum buses for each route. The route planning feature has been identified as an additional benefit of EcoManager’s extensive reporting capabilities. EcoManager assists drivers in adopting a more economic, smoother and safer driving style by highlighting when braking, accelerating and cornering is done correctly or otherwise through an Integrated Safety

Sir Roy McNulty's review of the rail industry has suggested that significant cost savings could be made around the network through more effective partnership working. The value for money review of the nation's railways has reached, what transport secretary Philip Hammond termed, "some important interim conclusions". McNulty's report has found: The railway is costing more than it used to and more than it ought to. Greater efficiency would realise savings of between £600m

Reading Transport this week launched its first Alexander Dennis Enviro 400H hybrid buses and revealed new branding for its Premier Route 26. “It is a revolutionary vehicle and we are excited that our first six will be in service on Monday December 13,” said James Freeman, chief executive officer of the council-owned bus operator. They are among an order for 20 to be purchased by Reading Transport with assistance from a grant awarded to the company as part of the first phase of the

Stagecoach confirmed today that it is to invest around £2.3m in a fleet of 17 state-of-the-art greener hybrid diesel electric buses for use at the group's bus operations in Scotland. It follows the award of around £1.5m in support funding from the Scottish Government’s Green Bus Fund, the largest successful bid. Stagecoach is expecting the new vehicles to be delivered in late summer 2011 and the investment will involve: Nine single-deck vehicles running on the flagship St

Fifty new low carbon vehicles will soon join Scotland's bus fleet thanks to £4.4m grant funding awarded this week to six bus operators across Scotland. Stagecoach Scotland West, Stagecoach Scotland East, Lothian Buses, MacEwens Coach Services, First Glasgow and COLCHRI will all benefit from the Scottish Green Bus Fund which provides help with the up front costs of buying new low carbon vehicles. This mix of both large and small bus operators will result in the new low carbon buses

Recently I was delighted to be invited by the Thames Valley Branch of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport to read a paper to them on the concept of Bus Rapid Transit. This brought me back to the very start of my professional transport career, where I started at the then-governmental Transport & Road Research Laboratory based near Reading in the early 1970s. Even then, the town had quite a reputation for the quality of its municipal bus network, as well as efforts to adopt &ls

It was a smaller Euro Bus Expo held in early November at Birmingham’s NEC, but there were still plenty of developments announced by the major bus manufacturers. And once again it seemed that greener technologies dominated the stands. Perhaps buoyed by the recent round of Green Bus Fund announcements, it was clear to see that all of the big firms see this emerging market as the future of their industry. Alexander Dennis Kicking off proceedings with a press briefing before the opening of

When Labour came to power in 1997 it was John Prescott who was handed the transport brief. Prescott was enthusiastically pro-public transport but soon found himself under fire for being “anti-motorist”. The current transport secretary, the first to be installed by the new coalition government is the polar opposite, and the transport world got to know him a little better at October’s Conservative Party conference in Birmingham. While Prescott pledged to transform the bus from &

It’s been voted the most irritating television advert of the year, but it’s hard to forget GoCompare’s offering. It involves a rotund and moustachioed opera singer, “Gio Compario”, popping up unexpectedly in everyday situations to urge us to visit the GoCompare website for the best deals on insurance. You probably know it, but did you know that one of the people behind it is Brian Souter? The Stagecoach co-founder and chief executive has recently gone public with

EU funding has enabled Transport for London to make provision for three more hydrogen buses that will enable an entire bus route in London to use this greener, cleaner technology, helping to improve air quality in the capital. TfL has secured €5.67m of funding as part of the EU's Cleaner Hydrogen in Cities project to expand its current hydrogen bus project. The funding allows for three additional zero-emission hydrogen hybrid fuel cell buses and the opportunity to extend the whole demonstr

Greater Manchester Integrated Transport Authority has taken delivery of the first of a fleet of up to 66 Optare hybrid buses. Jim Sumner, chief executive of Optare, handed over the first of the buses to Councillor David Sandiford, chair of the GMITA Bus Network and GMPTE Services Committee. Sumner said that he was very pleased to be handing over the buses in line with GMITA’s requirements. “This has been a major project for Optare and it emphasises our significant lead in the des

Although the Department for Transport is expected to make a more detailed announcement next week, it has already provided a more detailed analysis of some if its spending priorities. Rail ticketing For rail the biggest announcement from the DfT is that the cap on regulated rail fares will increase from the current RPI+1% to an average annual increase of RPI+3% for three years from January 2012. In a statement it added that due to the impact of relatively high inflation at present the governm

The Department for Transport has announced the winners for the second round of the Green Bus Fund. The scheme aims to encourage and help bus operators and local authorities to buy new hybrid and electric buses and the new round of funding will allow the purchase around 170 vehicles which will enter service by March 2012. The funding will help towards the additional up front cost of buying low carbon buses and provides the capital investment required to bring down costs for operators. Local

The electric car has long had its detractors. However, charging points are popping up all over the capital and it seems the future could be quiet and emission free. Sadly it seems that when the sustainability of recharging points meets health and safety, stupidity rules if the picture above that was sent in by reader New Transit  Roger Davies is to be believed.  

A pioneering Green Transport Charter was signed in the West Midlands last month in a move that aims to help cut carbon emissions and flight climate change. The charter, which is being spearheaded by transport authority Centro, has seen the region’s transport industry sign a pledge to work together in support of the environment. Companies have agreed a course of actions aimed specifically at tackling climate change. Those signing up have pledged to: • reduce carbon emissions and oth

This month will see the start of the party conference season and the case for supporting public transport will be put forward at fringe meetings in Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham. The tone is different from previous years. Public transport faces huge spending cuts and its supporters are keen to remind those in power of the important job it plays, both as an employer and as a facilitator of economic growth. But they also wants to highlight the green credentials of bus and rail. As part of

Arriva won a Company Driver Safety Award at the annual Fleet Safety Awards presented by the road safety charity Brake earlier this summer. The award is in recognition of the use of a new system that reduces accidents, costs and carbon. The judges were impressed to hear that after installing 21st Century’s ‘EcoManager’ system to its North West fleet, Arriva saw a 62% reduction in accidents in the first year.  And following the early success of the system in reducing acci

Optare has confirmed that diesel-electric hybrid versions of its Solo and Versa models have successfully completed certification trials to satisfy the Low Carbon Emission Bus requirements under the Green Bus Grant scheme. The certification, carried out independently by engineers at the Millbrook Proving Ground in Bedfordshire, now applies to all production Solo and Versa hybrids. It was based on Millbrook’s rigorous ‘MLTB’ test cycle, which replicates London’s route 159

American public transport - transit, as it’s known - has been enjoying a renaissance. Congestion and fuel prices have boosted ridership in the last few years, but there is also a growing number of light rail, streetcar and BRT lines. 10 or even five years ago, BRT advocates would point to the classic Latin American systems - Bogota, Curitiba - as models. The few domestic examples - often using freeway high-occupancy-vehicle lanes, or busways in former railroad corridors - provided expres

The first thing is to discount predictions by 50%, as changes over the last decade have not been fundamental. However, the Twenty Teens are predicted to herald the arrival of Peak Oil. This will finally bring home the message that our transport needs to change dramatically. If specific energy (the energy per unit mass) rises up the pecking order, then public transport is in for a sustained boost. This is not the only measure, however. Yes, a fully loaded A380 can match a driver in a modern eco

Warwickshire independent bus and coach operator Johnsons has launched a comparative trial between the battery electric Optare Solo EV and its conventional diesel-engined equivalent in a trial that is expected to yield valuable findings that could accelerate the introduction of cleaner buses to Britain’s roads. The six-day trial, which began in late July in Stratford-upon-Avon and is being undertaken by Johnsons in partnership with Optare, Greenwatt Technology, local authorities and organi

Falkirk-based bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis has revealed that it is working on a new hybrid bus product that will be tailored to the needs of the continental European bus industry. Chief executive Colin Robertson says that the move will assist in reducing the sticker price of hybrid buses by increasing volumes. The decision by ADL to invest in the new product follows the completion of more than 20 months of successful service of the firm’s early hybrid models in London, covering more

Stagecoach launched the first of 56 new hybrid vehicles at its Oxford bus operation last month as ministers in Westminster and Holyrood announced further funding to support the introduction of low carbon buses in England and Scotland. The Perth-based group is introducing 26 hybrid vehicles at its Oxford operation, with a further 30 buses expected to be introduced at Stagecoach Manchester in November. Stagecoach chief executive Brian Souter said that the introduction of the new vehicles represen

Everyone is tightening their belts, but that doesn’t mean that investment should or will be halted. The years ahead will be about making sure that government and private enterprises spend what money they have wisely. New Transit will respond to this by highlighting investments that result in savings. One such investment is lighter buses. Fuel represents a significant, and growing, proportion of bus company costs, yet buses have become steadily less fuel efficient as manufacturers comply w

A new report has discovered that rail industry bosses have forecast an encouraging financial year for their individual train operating companies. The figures reveal that there is unanimous agreement passenger numbers will rise in the new financial year compared to the current one. Meanwhile, 80% expect the financial picture to improve with operating profits returning to their former levels. All respondents intend to invest in their network or services during the next 12 months at an average of

Optare has won 100% of Greater Manchester Integrated Transport Authority’s order for up to 66 hybrid buses in the face of stiff competition. The order is worth up to £13m. It is the largest single order for hybrid buses so far to be placed with help from the government’s Green Bus Fund, which encourages low emission bus use. GMITA has secured over £3m from the Fund and £1.3m from other funders, including Wigan Council, to assist in the purchase of the buses. The

Alexander Dennis is forging ahead with production of the first large-scale orders for hybrid buses in the UK. The move follows confirmation that ADL is the first manufacturer supplying the British market to have its double deck hybrid offering - the Enviro400H - certified at Euro5. In effect, ADL is the first bus producer to meet the strict, new low carbon emission guidelines set for hybrids by the Department for Transport and “policed” by the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership. As a r

The Alternative Fuels & Vehicles National Conference & Expo held last month in Las Vegas, Nevada provided an important opportunity to highlight the commencement of two new rapid transit services featuring Wright Group’s StreetCar RTV. StreetCar RTV (Rapid Transit Vehicle) is at the very heart of this significant initiative by the Regional Transportation Commission of South Nevada (RTC). A total of 50 StreetCar RTVs are now in daily, fare-paying operation on two new rapid transit s

Long, long ago, in a land of chugging steam locos and heavyweight telephones, investment in the new 1960s motorways programme was justified with an idea dreamt up by Coburn, Beesley and Reynolds that user journey time savings could be valued as benefits. Since then, give or take a few peripheral arguments over the succeeding decades, the notion that ‘generalised cost’ largely consists of these time savings, has become entrenched in transport planners’ collective psyche. It is c

Change was the buzzword in run-up to May’s general election, and change is what is now going to happen. The world of public transport is no stranger to major upheavals. The bus industry experienced its fair share of them following privatisation in the mid-1980s, and it was the rail industry’s turn a decade later. But now, in 2010, we appear to be at the beginning of a new era. A combination of factors are coming together to create a new formula for the future. Perhaps the most obvio

The coalition between the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives has announced its 'Programme for Government', a move that prime minister David Cameron described as one that would provide "Strong, stable government". The transport element of the programme are a mixture of the two parties policies and express a firm commitment to take forward plans for a high speed rail network, support for Crossrail and further electrification of the rail network. The coalition also plans to refor

Stagecoach subsidiary South West Trains is to invest over £2m in regenerative braking technology on 200 of its trains. The first two trains, part of the Class 458 fleet, are currently testing the equipment in passenger service on the London to Guildford and London to Reading routes. The whole fleet of 30 Class 458 trains is expected to be fitted with the new regenerative braking software by the end of May 2010. The system will then be rolled out to South West Trains’ fleet of 172 D

If the market for long distance travel is a game then the airlines had an unlucky throw of the dice in April. The five-day closure of UK airspace due to a huge cloud of volcanic ash from Iceland cost them many millions of pounds. But, as ever, one man’s misfortune is another man’s gain. With thousands of would-be air travellers forced to change their plans, land-based transport like Virgin Trains, East Coast, National Express and Megabus carried thousands of extra passengers. The ep

David Eve as part of the recent budget, the government published a long term strategy for the development and funding of national infrastructure. “The majority of empirical research indicates that there is a positive relationship between infrastructure investment and economic growth,” the document states. It continues: “However, there is likely to be increasing competition for resources, skills and capital as countries across the world face the need to invest in infrastructur

Many within the bus industry have been critical about how heavy the current generation of vehicles are. Although technology in the car industry has made great strides in reducing emissions and improving fuel efficiency, it has been slow to have any sort of impact in the bus world. From an environmental point of view, the current generation of buses are gas guzzlers - a dramatic reversal from the buses of yesteryear which by comparison were remarkably fuel efficient. The fact is buses have bee

FirstGroup has revealed it is to trial a single deck bus which it hopes will be up to 20% more fuel efficient than comparable vehicles.   For a period of six months in Bradford, First will trial the Temsa Avenue bus which is manufactured in Turkey.  The bus weighs just under 10 tonnes, almost 1 tonne lighter than average thanks to the extensive use of composite materials on the roof, floor and body panels.   “We are very excited about trialling the bus,”

A wide-ranging report has called on the government to boost spending on public transport in the UK in order to mitigate the ever increasing economic effects that will be felt as the global supply of cheap oil begins to run out. The Industry Taskforce on Peak Oil &?Energy?Security was set up by a group of business leaders, including Virgin Group chairman Sir Richard Branson and Stagecoach chief executive Brian Souter, two years ago to highlight government inaction over the issue of peak oil.

Eurostar has been criticised for for having no plan in place to deal with the disruption created by the breakdown of five of its trains in the Channel Tunnel over the Christmas period. The independent Eurostar review into December's problems also found poor maintenance which meant one train no no snow screens on its power cars and the international rail operator also took into no account the age of some parts of the locomotives. Passenger trapped on the trains also faced poor conditions with o

Well, if this winter’s weather was anything to go by we’re certainly in for climate change – whether it be an ice age or a tropical desert! Politicians are pontificating on meeting ‘green targets’ at the macro level, whilst on a more micro level, people are getting hot under the collar about needing to move to cleaner fuels to minimise urban pollution. As someone who has worked closely on bus, BRT, guided bus, light rail and heavy rail systems, I am always fascinat

Bus operator profit margins edged up slightly in 2007/08 but remained lower than they were in the 1990s recession, according to the latest industry report by consultant the TAS Partnership. TAS said that a “double whammy of rising real-term costs and falling productivity is depressing bus industry profits” as it highlighted that the industry’s profit margin, at 6.9%, while higher than in 2006/07, was lower than at any other time since 1994. TAS says it is “difficult to

Perhaps the biggest change in terms of policy debates is that climate change has moved from the margins of transport policy to being core to decisions. This has been both a challenge to government to move away from locking in emissions through road schemes, but it’s also challenges bus and rail operators. They need to accept that it’s a challenge to the way they work, not just an opportunity to market themselves as greener than the car. In terms of the delivery of public transport,

Lord Soley argues that an expanded Heathrow, plugged into the national rail network, is vital for our economy The countries of the European Union have developed an impressive integrated transport system to service the growing power of the single market and to link them into the emerging global economy. A key part of this is the hub airports which allow people to interchange and connect within Europe and the wider world. Hub airports like Paris, Frankfurt and Amsterdam advertise their interco

The Department for Transport has announced the winners of its £30m Low Carbon Bus Fund initiative. The scheme will enable the purchase and introduction of almost 350 low carbon buses over the next year. The fund will enable bus operators and councils in every region across England to fund the up-front cost of buying low carbon buses. As more low carbon buses are produced and sold, costs will reduce enabling economies of scale that will stimulate demand for low carbon buses. Announcing th

North West in-fill scheme will mean more than two thirds of the network is electric Transport secretary Lord Adonis has announced a further round of rail electrification schemes on routes around the North West of England, first disclosed as part of chancellor Alistair Darling’s Pre-Budget Report last month. The move follows the £1.1bn electrification announcement by Adonis over the summer that will see the 200-mile London to Swansea line and the 32 mile line from Liverpool to Manch

Workington North opens to connect flood hit town Network Rail last month opened Workington North station, a new temporary station planned and constructed in record time to reconnect Workington after floods led to the collapse of the town’s two road bridges. After four days planning and construction work, the station opened allowing the introduction of a free shuttle service between Workington and Maryport on the Cumbria Coast Line. The line is the only way of crossing the River Derwent w

Chancellor Alistair Darling has confirmed plans for further rail electrification schemes in this morning's Pre Budget Report. He also revealed that the government will respond to plans for a new high speed rail route between London and the West Midlands and on to the North and Scotland early next year. Darling said that public sector investment in infrastructure has reached a 30-year high. "This year public sector investment reached a 30-year high and has delivered over 70 road and mot

The Department for Transport this morning (Thursday) announced funding for 349 new buses as part of the Green Bus Fund. The vehicles will all enter service before March 2012 and industry estimates are that up to 1000 jobs will be safeguarded as a result of this investment. Most of the buses that will be funded by the scheme will feature diesel-electric hybrid propulsion, but the fund will also support the purchase of at least 55 new electric buses. Greater Manchester will be a major benefi

There is no doubt that transport is a major ‘problem child’ in the government’s strategy to counter climate change. It is the only significant sector of the UK economy where CO2 emissions are still growing and now accounts for 21% of all emissions. Reversing this trend will be crucial to meeting the government’s climate change targets for the UK as a whole. By 2020 the target is for UK emissions to have fallen 34% compared to 1990 levels. In 2050, the target is for an 80%

Public transport may be less harmful to the environment than other forms of transport, but it cannot afford to rest on its green laurels. There is much to be done to make bus and rail as green as possible, and encourage more people to use them. The Green Transport Awards have been established by New Transit to shine a light on the good work that is being done in the sector. The awards recognise the efforts of those the are getting it leading the way, and offers ideas and inspiration for others.

WINNER FirstGroup FirstGroup is the largest UK-listed surface transport group, employing 135,000 people globally with a turnover of £5bn. It is the largest operator of both buses and trains in the UK. However, the judges were impressed at the focus that such a large company has applied to sustainability, and this gave First the edge in a hard fought category. Below are some of the green achievements that have seen the group crowned as ‘Green Operator’: In the 2007 Bus

WINNER Go Ahead Group, for investing in intelligent lighting at depots The Go Ahead Group operates out of over 600 separate premises throughout England, mainly train stations and bus and rail depots. Within these premises the group uses 100,000,000 kwhs of electricity a year, generating over 60,000 tonnes of CO2. The annual electricity bill is over £10m. Working in conjunction with The Carbon Trust, the group identified that lighting accounts for a very high proportion of its electric

WINNER Ted Ingle, East Midlands Trains East Midlands Trains employee Ted Ingle was named as the Stagecoach Group Green Champion in May 2009, after being selected as the staff member who has contributed the most to reducing the company’s carbon footprint. He has now been named as green champion for the whole of Britain’s transport sector. His most recent achievement was the introduction of a new disposal system for the waste that is removed when trains are cleaned. Waste gathered f

WINNER Stagecoach West Scotland, for Bio-buses ‘Bio-buses’ is a ground-breaking environmental initiative by Stagecoach West Scotland that allows customers to exchange used cooking oil for discounted bus travel. Eight vehicles in Kilmarnock now run on 100% biodiesel manufactured from used cooking oil and other food industry by-products. It is estimated that this will result in an 82% cut in CO2 emissions. Crucially, the bio-diesel is produced from tallow and used cooking oil, both

There are plenty of industries who must have felt seriously challenged over the past couple of decades when looking at how they measure up against the growing clamour to tackle climate change and be sensitive to changing consumer beliefs and values. Profligate energy producers burning away fossil fuels, water companies leaking vast amounts of precious liquid, and industrial-style chicken farmers lashed by the criticism of TV chefs. All these sectors, and others, realised they had to be seen to

Keith Ludeman claimed that the modal shift from car to bus or train occurs where public services have “quality attributes”, and are “convenient and reasonably priced” He is talking to government about the policies that would cause the public to shift to modes with lower CO2 emissions. In my opinion the policies that will be required would need to make the car less attractive. Assuming that it might not be long before we have a Conservative government it was interesting

When it comes to low carbon buses, London has always been something of a leader in recent years. The capital has been the first to introduce hybrid buses into mainstream service in any sort of quantities and other technologies have made their mark. Now it looks as though these forms of propulsion will form an increasingly important part of London’s transport strategy, with tough targets on air quality contained within mayor Boris Johnson’s recently published draft transport strategy

We have had the pleasure of powered transport for nearly 200 years now, and of those only the last 60 years have been dominated by explosive growth in car use. In that tiny interval – less than a lifetime - we have managed to increase the CO2 level of the atmosphere by 40%, and burn our way through somewhere between a third and half of global oil reserves, depending on who you believe. Now, not surprisingly, the rest of the world wants to follow our example and get mobile too. Before rec

It is normal at this time of year to reflect on the year past, and to look forward to the next. As we have seen in the Queen’s Speech, posturing is perhaps a more appropriate way to describe it than to be looking forward. And nowhere is this more so than with the green agenda. December was meant to be a key month in the global fight back against climate change, but instead the media-savvy world leaders are spending their time lowering our expectations of what they will achieve at the Cope

The Committee on Climate Change’s October report helpfully mapped out the route to a low carbon transport system. While greener and electric cars will bring our emissions down some way, we’re still going to have to drive less, with total car km peaking in 2009. The only way to achieve this is to provide people with alternatives which are accessible, affordable and sustainable. This means looking at all the various transport proposals vying for funding over the coming years and consi

Most of the answer lies in changes in local travel. But a third of person-travel comes from journeys of over 50 miles. Here travel demand increases as a function of economic growth (to which one day soon, I hope, we shall return). New research by ITS/Leeds for the Independent Transport Commission verifies this fact. Much of the travel in this category is vital to a vibrant economy. So what we need is an honest approach that recognises we have several big picture policy objectives: we want both

The Stern Review’s three policy principles - introducing carbon pricing, focusing on technology policy, and focusing on behavioural change - are fundamental here. For me, the option offering the quickest savings to the transport sector - where the evidence suggests big improvements are unlikely to be cost-effective for at least another decade or so - is behavioural change. And the most likely source of this is providing drivers with in-vehicle information showing them how to reduce fuel us

Cars produce 60% of all carbon emissions from domestic transport. Huge savings could be achieved by encouraging people to reduce their car use and switch to lower carbon forms of transport. For example, switching from car to bus or coach for just one journey in 25 would save two million tonnes of CO2. This would mean one billion fewer car journeys on our roads, and 50% more CO2 savings than planned by government for the same period.  Whilst progress in technology and innovation is essenti

While the Dutch were announcing their radical plans to cut carbon emissions from transport through the introduction of a nationwide road user charging scheme, our own transport secretary, Lord Adonis, was offering his own vision of a greener future. Giving a speech about low carbon transport at an event organised by Campaign for Better Transport in London, Adonis charmed another audience with his grasp of the transport brief, and passion for it. However, he dodged the issue of achieving modal sh

Transport secretary Lord Adonis has travelled all over the world to discover what Britain can learn from foreign countries. The carbon he has generated while studying low carbon transport initiatives must have melted his own weight in polar ice, but Adonis will be forgiven if he can put what he has learnt to good use and give Britain a better transport system that also produces much less carbon. Perhaps his next trip should be to return to The Netherlands. The Dutch government understands the i

While the Greener Journeys campaign has highlighted the impact major initiatives could have in reducing car travel and growing bus use, there remains considerable potential for large patronage increases from lower cost measures to raise awareness of public transport. Jacqui Wilkinson, formerly head of sustainable travel at the Department for Transport, says that too often basic information on bus services is not provided and the industry needs to ensure that it “puts its own house in order

Advertising campaigns promoting the environmental consciousness of major corporations are becoming increasingly common, even among industries which are major polluters. E.On famously ran a campaign showing its windfarms, while BMW and VW have both run recent campaigns promoting the environmental credentials of their new cars. However, the benefits of these campaigns are not so much in bringing in new business but in persuading potential customers not to rule out purchasing a company’s p

Although vehicle technology in the car industry has made great strides in reducing emissions, it has been slow to have a significant impact on the bus industry. Trials in London show that emissions from hybrid diesel electric buses are 30-40% lower than for standard buses. However, at present fuel savings do not compensate for the price. The £230,000 cost of hybrid buses is £80,000 more than a standard diesel bus, and they are viewed by operators as unaffordable. Apart from the 56 h

Two hydrogen buses are set to hit the streets of Sunderland as part of a unique research and development programme that aims to bring international expertise to North East England. One North East has invested £314,000 to sponsor the ECO2Trans project, which is converting two former Merseytravel Technobus electric buses into hydrogen vehicles using a fuel cell, battery and capacitor combination. The University of Sunderland’s Institute of Automotive and Manufacturing Advanced Practi

The Olympic Delivery Authority has granted planning permission for a new hydrogen refuelling facility at a First London bus garage, a move that will pave the way for the introduction of a new fleet of fuel cell buses next year. First, who will operate the five vehicles, were granted the planning permission for the facility to be located at their bus garage on Temple Mills Lane, Leyton. Work is due to begin early in the New Year and should be complete by summer 2010. The five hydrogen hybrid

A plan to expand the electrified network that would increase capacity, improve journeys while reducing costs and carbon emissions was unveiled today following a year-long study by Network Rail. The study concludes that the electrification of the Midland Main Line - the main route from London St Pancras to Derby, Nottingham and Sheffield - has an extremely attractive business case and could, over the course of 60 years, pay for itself with the savings made from cheaper running costs and mainte

To a large extent, the performance of major companies reflects the character of their chief executives. This is particularly true in public transport where the men at the top have been instrumental in building their businesses virtually from scratch, and have been part of the leadership team, in some cases chief executive, for decades. Stagecoach, under Brian Souter, has consistently led the industry into new markets and pioneered innovation, sometimes impetuously, sometimes brilliantly. First

Proposals to electrify up to 400 miles of railways, to fill in the network’s ‘missing links’ and provide better connections between some of the UK’s biggest cities are set out today by train companies. The Association of Train Operating Companies is keen to see work done which prepares for the electrification in the long term of a relatively small number of strategic routes, bringing significant benefits to the UK economy. The proposals would cut carbon emissions and

In the modern age, people want to travel more than ever before. The key challenges for the transport sector over the coming years will be to facilitate that freedom of movement, whilst reducing the carbon content of transport. The Lib Dems have therefore set out two overarching aims for our transport policy: firstly, to improve the travelling experience for everyone, whether they are moving by road, rail or air, and secondly, to cut the carbon content of transport. A key part of our transport

As a proportion of the passenger transport sector, aviation is relatively small. Of the 7.7 billion journeys made by passenger transport in the UK in 2007/08 only 0.3% were made on domestic flights (22 million journeys). With international flights this figure climbs to 200 million journeys a year. However, this is still tiny when compared to the 1.2 billion journeys made each year on the national rail network, the 1.1 billion on the London Underground and the massive 5.1 billion on buses. And

ALSTOM and Bombardier have each revealed details of their next generation of commuter trains. They will be more energy efficient than previous models. Alstom has developed a new product for the UK from its X’Trapolis platform, based on the success of fleets in Australia, Chile and Spain, and incorporating technology used in the company’s high speed trains. At the heart of the train architecture is Bogie Offset Articulation which reduces the number of bogies by 30%, making the train

The government’s announcement of a £30m scheme to subsidise the purchase of around 700 new low carbon buses, plus changes to the Bus Service Operators Grant that will reward fuel efficiency, seem to have become something of a rallying cry for Britain’s bus manufacturers to push alternative fuel technologies in recent months. Last month bus manufacturer Optare formally announced its EcoDrive strategy that aims to enhance the environmental credentials of its vehicles. Rather tha

Airline industry opinion The airline industry generally accepts that HSR operation has an environmental advantage over air, however, its scale is disputed. Short haul airline VLM has described rail industry claims as “often unaudited, and based on questionable logic”. It quoted research by the Sustainable Aviation Network Europe showing the latest generation of regional aircraft such as its Fokker 50s may actually be more environmentally friendly than rail, emitting 95g of CO2 per

UK bus and coach operators today warned the government that it risks missing key carbon reduction targets by failing to maximise the potential of buses and coaches to help tackle climate change. Operators First and Stagecoach joined forces to unveil a blueprint to meet the challenge of climate change by aimed at taking one billion car journeys off the country’s roads. The move is part of the Greener Journeys campaign, which was founded by the 'big five' groups and which launched a manife

FirstGroup is to incentives drivers at its UK bus division with a £2m reward pot for improved driving standards. The scheme is linked to the group’s announcement that it is to install a driver monitoring system across its 9,000-strong UK bus fleet, which aims to improve driving standards whilst cutting CO2 emissions and fuel use. The move follows a successful trial of the ‘DriveGreen’ system, produced by US-based Green Road, on 1,000 buses in London, Bradford and Glasg

It is hard to believe that it is less than a decade since the dark days of Hatfield and the demise of Railtrack. Since then, there has been a significant investment in Britain’s railway network, with a modern fleet of vehicles, a comprehensive national timetable and a raft of new schemes in the planning, including Crossrail and Thameslink. As Network Rail have correctly noted, more passengers are using more services than ever. And now the government has announced the electrification of the

A  new report from the parliamentary select committee suggests that rail franchising remains a mess where private operators can abandon their obligations when times get tough. It adds that the time has come for fundamental reform of the franchising system. In its report on rail fares and franchises, the committee concludes that the fare increases, service reductions and staff cuts seen in 2009 are unacceptable practices which the government must take steps to prevent. Fare rises of more th

Bus operators could cut their fuel bill by as much as 30%, saving as much as £2,000 per year per vehicle, by using a special device that has been created by technology firm 21st Century. As well as reducing fuel consumption, the ECOManager product can also reduce operator’s carbon emissions – lowering the carbon footprint of each bus by as much as 5,000kg every year. The system is the first fuel saving system that has been designed specifically for use on bus fleets and is cur

The government has announced plans for a new £30m scheme that will subsidise the purchase of around 700 low carbon buses. Bus operators and councils will be able to bid for the money which they can then use towards the additional up front cost of buying low carbon buses. Transport minister Lord Adonis said that the move would be a boost to bus builders and would also help kickstart mass production of hybrid vehicles by reducing initial acquisition costs. He added that the move would als

The elderly and young people under the age of 25 remain key markets for the bus industry according to survey data investigating public attitudes to bus travel that was released by the Department for Transport last month. The data reveals 51% of 16 to 24-year olds use the bus at least once a week, the highest out of all of all age groups, closely followed by those aged over 75, 38% of whom use the bus at least once a week. However, a significant number of age groups remain unconvinced by the me

Stagecoach has become the first bus and coach operator to sign up to the ECO - Efficient and Cleaner Operations - Stars Fleet Recognition Scheme. The free South Yorkshire scheme gives the opportunity for all commercial vehicles to cut costs and improve environmental performance by reducing fuel consumption. Stagecoach have signed up 295 buses and coaches to the scheme, bringing the total number of ECO Star rated vehicles across the region to 3152 Stagecoach were awarded a three star rat

England's bus fleet will be helped to go green thanks to a new £30m fund to encourage the purchase of low carbon buses. The fund is part of the Department for Transport’s wider strategy to encourage a radical shift to low carbon transport and improve air quality in our cities. Bus operators and councils will be able to bid for the money which they can then use towards the additional up front cost of buying low carbon buses. As more low carbon buses are produced and sold, costs wi

Any visitor to Newcastle and Gateshead cannot help notice the distinctive yellow hybrid-powered  buses of the innovative QuayLink city centre bus service. Launched in the summer of 2005 with £7.7m of government funding by Newcastle City Council, Gateshead Council and Nexus, the Tyne &?Wear PTE, QuayLink connects the centres of Newcastle and Gateshead with the now thriving Quayside, home to new cultural venues as well as educational, home and office developments. Regeneration was

AT the last UITP?World Congress in Helskini in 2007 hybrid bus technology was very much in its embryonic state. However, this year’s event in Vienna saw all of the major European manufacturers demonstrating their hybrid developments. Belgium’s Van Hool announced the first entry into service of its production hybrid product by De Lijn, the Flemish region public transport operator. On display in Vienna was the first of an initial 79 Van Hool hybrids for the operator and the manufact

A group of employees from Volvo in Gothenburg, Sweden, have been taking part in a project in which a personal CO2 “pedometer” has kept a check on what their commuting to work costs in the form of carbon emissions. The results of the project demonstrate how Green IT can show people how they can help to reduce the climate threat and thereby increase their motivation to change their behaviour and help to improve the environment. The project saw journeys made by the Volvo employees regi

Stagecoach announced today that it is investing more than £9m in an entire new fleet of vehicles for its Oxford Tube network. The fleet of 26 new Van Hool Astromega double deck coaches – each costing more than £350,000 – is being built in Belgium. Oxford Tube runs a 24-hour service every day of the year with coaches running between Oxford and London up to every 10 minutes at peak times. The new greener coaches are fitted with DAF EEV (Enhanced Environmental Veh

The rail industry has today set out its vision for what the railway should look like and be able to deliver for passengers and freight users in 20 to 30 years time. In Planning ahead a paper published today, Network Rail, the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) and the Rail Freight Operators' Association (RFOA), look beyond recent improvements in punctuality and the work already agreed to develop the railway over the next five years. It signals the start of more detailed furt

Stagecoach is launching its first ever group-wide ‘Green Week’ on April 20. As well as highlighting the environmental benefits of using public transport, Stagecoach Green Week aims to inform staff and passengers of ways in which the company is reducing its carbon footprint. Launching Green Week, Stagecoach chief executive, Brian Souter, said: “This is a very important initiative for our company. We want to grow our business in a sustainable way, enhancing the communities in w

Bus manufacturer Optare last week launched the Solo EV, what it claims is Britain’s first practical electric bus, at a demonstration event at the Millbrook proving ground in Bedfordshire. The vehicle, which will carry a £70,000 price premium over the standard £100,000 price tag for diesel-powered Solo. The vehicle, which will have an operational range of around 70 miles, is being aimed at airport, local authority and community transport operators as well as mainstream bus oper

Ever since the present government came to power, it has hankered for the opportunity to cut subsidy to bus services. Of course they wouldn’t put it that way, they would say to reform the way subsidies are distributed, but the end game really is to reduce the cost to the Treasury. It seems more than a little odd, then, that when the business minister says that the government is here to help businesses work through the impact of the recession, at the very same time the department decides to

In 2007, climate change finally came to town. On this subject, there is real passion from the chief executives. Virtue or self interest, it doesn’t matter - better the latter, it’ll last longer. Until recently, sustainability was mainly about recycling and air pollution but now, with the arrival of climate change, the focus changes. The title of the National Express strategy document, More is Less, presents the context very well. More public transport means fewer UK carbon emissio

Encouraging people to use the bus over the private car is the right thing to do. Making this choice reduces congestion, reduces pollution and is energy-efficient. But has this always been the case and will it be so in the future? Evidence that this could be questioned was raised by studies on strategies for reducing local air pollution from vehicles by the Transport & Travel Research for various UK towns and cities. Potential actions on the bus fleet came top in the list of most ‘cost

In the last couple of years the dwindling band of municipally-owned bus operators have raised their game. Indeed this burst of creativity is perhaps best demonstrated by the sector’s trophy haul at this year’s UK Bus Awards, led by the bus operator of the year, Warrington Borough Transport. No longer are council-owned operators seen as the deeply traditional businesses that they once were, perhaps in part due to the growing number of experienced industry managers that have switched

A new environmental report commissioned by the Passenger Transport Executive Group has called for urban bus fleets to be modified or replaced if buses are to retain their green credentials over the private car. It also argues for the introduction of Low Emission Zones to tackle pollutants and, in particular, the use of Traffic Regulation Conditions to tackle harmful bus emissions. The report, produced by consultants TTR,  finds that, because of the volume of older and more polluting buses

Transport minister Geoff Hoon has announced that the government plans to increase the Bus Service Operator’s Grant to reflect the 2p duty increase that chancellor Alistair Darling revealed in his pre-budget report. However, Hoon also revealed that there will be no further increases to BSOG until April 2010 when long mooted reforms to the £450m subsidy to operators will take place. From then BSOG rates will be uprated for those operators who have achieved an improvement in fuel effic

“It is the duty of the secretary of state to ensure that the net UK carbon account for the year 2050 is at least 80% lower than the 1990 baseline”. So reads Clause 1 of the Climate Change Act 2008. Blimey, that’s some duty. “To ensure”: not much wriggle room there. Clause 4, another duty: before June 1 2009, to set carbon budgets for the successive five year periods 2008-2012, 2013-2017 and 2018-2022 at levels consistent with the 2050 obligation. And another: a

Transport for London has restated its commitment to a major expansion of hybrid-powered buses. Following the election of Boris Johnson as major of London earlier this year some had expected plans to introduce hybrid buses to be cut back in a bid to cut costs. However, the mayor’s transport co-ordinating body this week assembled four hybrid buses, built by three different manufacturers, at London’s House Guards Parade for a promotional event. By the end of January next year, the nu

Bus operators have reacted with anger to chancellor Alistair Darling’s Pre-Budget Report which revealed increases to fuel duty and plans to reform the way the Bus Service Operator’s Grant is distributed to them. Although the chancellor cut VAT from 17.5% to 15%, this has been offset by an increase in fuel duty from this week by 2p a litre.  Darling also announced further increases with a 1.84p per litre rise next April and a further 0.5p increase in April 2010. Operators have

Transport for London has restated its commitment to a major expansion of hybrid-powered buses. Following the election of Boris Johnson as major of London earlier this year some had expected plans to introduce hybrid buses to be cut back in a bid to cut costs. However, the mayor’s transport co-ordinating body this week assembled four hybrid buses, built by three different manufacturers, at London’s House Guards Parade for a promotional event. By the end of January next year, th

All of the major UK manufacturers demonstrated their new hybrid vehicle products at this week’s Euro Bus Expo show in Birmingham. While Scandinavian manufacturer Scania displayed its hybrid concept bus that was first unveiled at the UITP World Congress in Helsinki last year, rivals unveiled a number of hybrid models that will enter service in London in the coming months. UK?hybrid pioneer Wrightbus used the show to unveil its new Gemini 2 double deck model with a hybrid version destined

AIM-listed bus manufacturer Optare took the wraps off the Rapta, its new concept integral double deck bus at the Euro Bus Expo show in Birmingham this week. Although only a mock-up of the vehicle was on show, Optare believes that when production of the Rapta begins at its new plant in Blackburn next year it will be considerably lighter than its peers. With an unladen weight of 10,700kg it will be nearly 1,000kg lighter than its closest competitor resulting in a 5%  improvement in fuel cons

Ballymena-based bus manufacturer WrightBus used the San Diego convention of the American Public Transport Association to take the wraps off its hybrid-powered StreetCar RTV trambus this week. The vehicle is one of 50 ordered by the RTC of South Nevada for use on its ACE Downtown Connector route in Las Vegas. The vehicles, which feature passenger information screens and bike racks, are powered by a state-of-the-art series hybrid drive developed in conjunction with the ISE Corporation and Siemens

Whatever else it has done, the high oil price has certainly shone a spotlight on the advantages of public transport. Car travel flat, bus and rail up. The oil price is falling now, but don’t relax; the price of electricity has just hit a new peak. But do these high prices at least have the advantage of discouraging the use of carbon based fuels and are they hastening the time when the railway, like Eurostar, can offer passengers carbon neutral travel? The Office of Rail Regulation,

It’s a truism that to achieve our aspirations as a leading country in a global economy, efficient public transport is critical. Ultimately our transport networks will succeed or fail to deliver their potential by virtue of their ability to deliver customer convenience, an arbiter of customer choice. Encouraging customers to choose public transport has become more focussed with the environmental challenge to reduce our carbon footprint by 2020. This is made harder against a growing tran

The Liberal Democrats oppose returning the rail network to direct state control, but they believe that local government should have greater powers over bus networks. Speaking at a Transit/Go Ahead-sponsored fringe meeting at last week’s Liberal Democrat Party conference in Bournemouth, Norman Baker, the Lib Dem shadow transport secretary, said renationalisation was the wrong route to take. The Lewes MP told the meeting said that renationalisation would disincentivise the train operat

Dedicated school buses should be introduced across Britain to all primary and many secondary schools says the Yellow School Bus Commission, chaired by former education secretary David Blunkett.  The commission, which is sponsored by First Group, published its report earlier this month following the conclusion of its year-long review of school transport in the UK. It report claims that a national roll out of yellow school buses would cut local traffic congestion, benefit the environme

The Department for Transport is now considering the responses to its consultation paper on reform of the Bus Service Operators’ Grant in England, which enables bus operators to claim back tax on fuel. The grant, formerly known as Fuel Duty Rebate, currently injects £413m into the bus industry, equating to around 8.7p per passenger carried. It is generally regarded as offering good value for money. However, launching the DfT’s consultation on BSOG reform in March, transport secr

One of the country’s largest remaining independent bus operators has called on the government to help the industry cope with “horrendous” increases in fuel costs. Peter Shipp, the chairman of the Hull-based EYMS Group, wants ministers to increase the level of government support for bus services by restoring the ‘lost’ element of the Bus Service Operators’ Grant. This would increase the £400m a year grant by around £92m. The grant, which was f

The Association of Train Operating Companies has predicted that rocketing energy costs will see the industry’s fuel bill double over the next two years. “We currently think energy consumption for passenger operators will double to £450-£500m per year,” ATOC strategic policy director Richard Davies told the Reducing Rail’s Carbon Footprint conference last week. He predicted that the lack of protection in franchise agreements from fuel cost increases would

Peterborough City Council in conjunction with Renewable Power Systems UK Ltd will be trialling a new solar powered lighting system and driver request beacon at a bus shelter in Central Avenue, Dogsthorpe, Peterborough. A solar panel will be fitted to the frame of the bus shelter and two LED lamps will provide light to give waiting passengers an increased feeling of safety and security. This system of lighting requires no mains power source and is environmentally friendly. Another new featu

Lothian Buses is to axe part of its network in response to a mounting financial crisis at the council-owned operator. After posting record breaking profits of £5.9m last year, the council-owned company, which pays the City of Edinburgh Council a dividend of just over £2m each year, is now struggling to break even. The financial problems at the incumbent ‘Bus Operator of the Year’ have been blamed on a combination of rapidly increasing costs and a small drop in passenge

Alex Salmond, first minister of Scotland, today launched the construction phase of First Group’s new global headquarters by pouring the last foundations. Salmond was joined by First Group’s chief executive, Sir Moir Lockhead, at the eight-acre King Street site. The £20m project, which involves construction of both the new HQ and bus depot for Aberdeen, is expected to be completed by spring 2009. Salmond commented: “Scotland welcomes the commitment of First Group t

You can always tell when summer is coming. Two of the main transport plcs publish upbeat annual accounts and financial statements, and the only thing to bet on is by how much they will have both increased their bus customer base by organic growth. Then, later each year, come the aggregated figures from Department for Transport showing a very different overall position. It leaves you pondering just how badly the rest of the industry must have performed to square the two sets of figures, but then

Clearly timed to co-incide with the publication of the Local Transport Bill earlier this month, the Confederation of Passenger Transport has published a new report, Moving Forward: New Opportunities, New Passengers. It shows how the industry trade association feels bus use can be increased with out the need for greater regulatory powers. The research, undertaken in conjunction with consultancy firm TAS, reveals that a 10% increase in bus speeds across 10% of the bus networks of the six Eng

Train operators and Network Rail are on the verge of putting a case to the Department for Transport which promises to dismantle the government’s argument that it is too expensive to electrify the remainder of the rail network. Despite severe pressure from the industry over the past few months, rail ministers have continually re-iterated arguments in this summer’s White Paper which ruled out a significant electrification programme before 2014 on cost grounds. Longer-term prospects

As we look forward into the New Year, there are three main preoccupations for observers of the public transport scene: the progress of the government’s current transport legislation, the economy and its effect on our industries, and the growing concern over carbon emissions and climate change. Despite all the attention it is receiving, the government’s current bill looks increasingly irrelevant. Even if it is enacted by the late spring of next year, there will still be the regulat

Rising fuel costs have forced bus operator Go North East to increase the prices of some of its fares, but has also launched a campaign to highlight how its fares compete with increasing motoring costs. Since last week, the Go Ahead-owned operator has increased the price of its BuzzFare and Get Around faresaver tickets due to continuing increases in the cost of fuel. The increases come at a time when Go North East is looking to increase its fuel efficiency by putting all its 1,700 drivers

The major public transport groups have reacted bullishly to new growth figures, claiming they demonstrate that a fundamental change in favour of travelling by bus and rail has taken place. Their comments came on the back of results statements and trading updates issued by four of the ‘big five’ UK public transport plcs over the past two weeks. At the launch of Stagecoach’s annual results, chairman Robert Spiers said the group had “benefited from a renaissance on th

TRAVEL LONDON and Selkent, part of the former Stagecoach London operations now owned by Australian investment bank Macquarie, have been revealed as the capital’s worst performing high frequency bus operators, according to figures obtained by Transit. During Transport for London’s period 10 between October 13 and January 4, Travel London managed an average excess waiting time of 1.47 minutes against a minimum performance standard of 1.27 minutes. Selkent had an EWT figure of 1.36 m

FIRST’S BUS operations in the Midlands are the most punctual  throughout its UK bus operation according to new figures revealed by the Aberdeen-based group. However, on average just 81% of its buses were on-time in its home city of Aberdeen throughout 2007. The group began voluntarily publishing the figures for the whole of its UK bus operation at the start of 2007 and is currently the only major group to provide the information in the public domain. The figures are revealed in its

Light rail is the solution to an expected boom in oil prices and   according to West Midlands PTA Centro, however, only if work on a long term strategy starts now. This was the message from Centro-PTA’s chief executive, Geoff Inskip, speaking at the spring meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Light Rail Group in the House of Commons last week, who agreed that oil is predicted to become a scarce resource.  “It’s a well-known theory that once the world rea

Almost 800,000 incidents caused 14 million minutes of delay to rail journeys in 2006-07, costing a minimum of £1bn in terms of time lost to passengers, according to a report released today by the National Audit Office. In 2006-07, Network Rail infrastructure faults such as problems with the track and signal failure accounted for 42% of total delay minutes, train operators caused 38% and external events such as weather conditions or vandalism, 20%. The NAO found that, while Network Rail

A new high speed line could be required in 10 years to prevent overcrowding on the rail network becoming unmanageable, according to a new report by consultants. In an update of its 2003 study for the Strategic Rail Authority, WS Atkins has claimed that rail capacity could be exhausted much sooner than the government is anticipating, making planning a new high speed line an urgent priority. And its report suggested that, contrary to the rail industry’s usual position, the best route for

Arriva has announced the target of reducing its greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint by 15% by 2012 across its bus and rail operations in the UK and elsewhere in Europe. Most of Arriva’s GHG footprint is derived from the fuel that powers its buses and trains. This is therefore the area of greatest focus, but the company also aims to improve the carbon-efficiency of its depots and other facilities. Most of the progress towards the company’s targets is planned to come from two main fac

Burdened with fuel tax, insurance, VAT on fuel tax? Well it’s a fact that £1 in £6 is spent  on motoring which is a high cost to businesses and one that needs controlled.  With much of the emphasis on how to reduce CO2 emissions whilst also controlling costs, the process can be very labour intensive. To this end JMW have designed and developed fuel systems for over 20years to assist with these problems.  JMW are recognised as a company whose processes and pro

Although Chris Stokes indicated that the initial results of his research into the case for future electrification came with a “health warning” and needed to be rigorously assessed with Department for Transport and Network Rail, it is possible that the eventual case presented to the government could prove even stronger than he outlined. Stokes said that his work did not take into account European environmental legislation due to come into effect in 2012, because the impact had not

In the wake of last summer’s rail white paper, an uncomfortable stand off developed between the Department for Transport and the rail industry over the case for electrification of the railway. The industry’s position was that electrification offers quicker, more reliable, more comfortable services for passengers, has obvious environmental advantages and that, in the medium to long term, it will be cheaper to electrify the network than continuing to order new diesel trains. The gov

It would have been extremely naïve to believe that government - big government - would have its pound of flesh with the Local Transport Bill and then leave us alone for a while to get used to the new regime. Nice though that would have been for our customers, the budget statement quickly affirmed that it was not to be, and we now have a review of what they call bus subsidies to face, even though most are actually people subsidies. Two of the so called subsidies now under attack are conc

London mayor Boris Johnson has announced that he is to end the capital’s controversial ‘oil for expertise’ deal with Venezuela. Former mayor Ken Livingston, signed a deal with the South American nation’s state-owned oil company last year to cut 20% of the fuel bill for London’s bus fleet in return for transport consultancy, including advice on planning, congestion charging and ticketing. The savings were used to offer discount fares to the quarter of a million Lo

First chief executive Moir  Lockhead has urged Britain to “think green” as the Aberdeen-based group helped to promote this week’s World Environment Day. The United Nations event is celebrated in more than 100 countries worldwide and organisers of this years event encouraged individuals to consider alternative forms of transport over the private car. As part of the initiative, First challenged car drivers to leave their vehicles at home yesterday and use alternative form

The sudden and erratic changes in world oil prices could force public transport operators to take a gamble on when to sign new fuel hedging deals. Most bus services are covered by deals which guarantee the fuel price for an agreed period, regardless of fluctuations in the oil market. However, as crude oil prices exceeded $130 a barrel recently, managers were pondering whether to go for their next deals now or hope that prices will drop before their current deals expire. Prime minister Gordon

DATA from the National Travel?Survey continues to show how sharply bus and coach travel is reduced when a household makes the transition from not owning a car to owning one. Thus, whereas each member of a non car-owning household makes 184 trips a year covering 821 miles, this plummets by almost 80% to an average of 39 trips and 256 miles when the car is purchased. Even the non drivers in the house reduce their use of buses by more than half, whilst those who can drive make even fewer bus

rail users believe that the rail industry is lagging behind in using such high tech systems, according to new research published by Passenger Focus. Despite a large increase in online ticket sales, and the use of the internet and mobile phones by the National Rail Enquires Service, users believe technology could play a bigger role in rail travel, as it does in other aspects of their lives. These findings, the result of focus group work in five UK cities, were revealed by Passenger Focus ch

TRANSPORT OPERATORS can expect to be soon paying $200 for a barrel of oil and, as a result, will have to look at using new technology, such as carbon composites, to improve fuel efficiency of their vehicles. That was the message of Virgin Group strategist Will Whitehorn to the assembled operators and local authority representatives at CPT Scotland’s annual conference at Gleneagles. “We are fundamentally now in a world where oil won’t get any cheaper,” said Whiteho

Will he or won’t he? Only Gordon Brown knows if he will soon call a general election, but belief that one is on the horizon influenced the tone of the discussions at this year’s party conferences. There were many interesting discussions about public transport. Rail was as ever the subject of lively debate, but even the humble bus merited a mention in Brown’s maiden conference speech as prime minister. Listing changes needed to renew democracy, he included: “Change to s

Leeds-based bus manufacturer Optare will use next week’s Coach and Bus Live show at Birmingham’s NEC to unveil a new look version of its best selling Solo midibus. The move comes 10 years since the Solo was first launched, with more than 3,000 now in operation around the world. Initially at least, the new Solo SR model, which features new styling that strongly resembles that of the new Optare Versa midibus launched at last years NEC show, will be available to customers alongside

The summer of 2007 is already set for several entries into the history books - the change of prime minister, the appaling weather and the recent turmoil in the financial markets will all merit extensive study in future years. In annals of railway history, too, the  summer of 2007 will long be remembered, for several reasons: firstly, the award of no fewer than five new rail franchises: Cross Country, East Midlands, InterCity East Coast, London Overground and West?Midlands - all effective

As punctuality climbs up the Department for Transport’s agenda, bus operators will need to monitor their own punctuality much more closely - but few operators are in a position to do so accurately, according to public transport consultants The TAS Partnership. “Unlike rail operators, bus operators are lagging behind in the publication of performance standards,” said TAS associate director Philip Higgs “The reality is that operators do not have monitoring data to demons

The Department for Transport has set out a long term vision for a complete “re-engineering” of the railway. The vision contained in the DfT’s first Rail Technical Strategy (RTS) sets out steps for developing a low energy, high capacity, cost effective network which will meet more demanding passengers’ expectations. It would see much lighter rolling stock operating on more precisely engineered and tolerant infrastructure, capable of monitoring its own health and detecti

The message from all sectors of the media is clear; reduce your carbon footprint. Solar energy in the public transport sector will generate no carbon emissions but it can be impractical due to the size of the system required which makes the first cost too expensive. However solar power specialist Carmanah Technologies has combined solar power with LEDs, rather than conventional light bulbs, in order to allow the firm to put light where it is needed, when it is needed, and eliminate waste whic

Public transport will play a central role in the development of a new industrial age, an influential US academic told a global audience of public transport professionals last week. The remarks were made by Jeremy Rifkin in his keynote speech to the opening ceremony of the biennial World Congress of UITP, the international association of public transport, which was hosted by Helsinki this month. Rifkin is president of the Washington-based Foundation on Economic Trends. An activist who seeks

Scania used the exhibition at last week’s UITP World Congress in Helsinki to unveil a new ethanol/electric-powered concept bus. The hybrid vehicle can be powered by either ethanol or supercapacitors, which offer a longer life than batteries. Other features include a centrally-located driver seat and a full low floor interior. However, around 80% of the vehicle’s components are shared with Scania’s existing Omni range of buses. The Swedish manufacturer has built two of the 10.4-

Alternative fuels were a major topic at this year’s World Congress of UITP, the international association of public transport, in Helsinki. Most of the major European manufacturers used the show to announce new products that will either use hydrogen or ethanol fuels, or hybrid technology in an effort to enhance the green credentials of public transport, and, perhaps more importantly, to improve their own economic  performance. US-based economist and futurist Jeremy Rifkin, who gave

Perhaps reflecting the growingenvironmental debate around the world, alternative fuels where high on the agenda at last weeks UITP?World Congress in the Finnish capital of Helsinki. Ethanol, as a fuel, is now well established in Scandinavia. As well as Scania unveiling an ethanol-powered hybrid concept bus (see below), Maria Ljung, environmental manager of Storstockholms Lokaltrafik, the public transport authority of the Swedish capital Stockholm, told a forum session that the city would ha

Train operators’ electricity traction costs have been slashed following a new deal agreed by ATOC and Network Rail. The deal was revealed in a trading statement from Go Ahead which had previously reported that its EC4T payments to Network Rail would increase by £16m this year. Now the rise will only be £3.5m, with Go Ahead also making a £7m compensation payment to Network Rail. The cost reduction comes as a result of Network Rail agreeing to charge operators accordi

A?NEW?REPORT by the Commission for Integrated Transport has called for the creation of strategic transport authorities, with greater powers than Transport for London, in the six metropolitan counties of England. It is likely that at least some of CfIT’s recommendations will be included in the government’s proposed Road Transport Bill, the draft of which will be published in the summer. The report adds that while the conurbations themselves are good at strategic planning, their

Two operators announced that they are ahead of the game this week by launching new vehicle fleets that meet Euro V emissions legislation four years ahead of the 2010 deadline. Compared to Euro IV, the latest standard stipulates a further 43% reduction in nitrogen oxide content of the exhaust gases. Specialist transport provider NCP Interline, part of the NCP?services business that has been retained by ultimate owner the investment firm 3i (Transit March 30), has introduced a new fleet of 10

London mayor Ken Livingstone and transport commissioner Peter Hendy signed an deal with a Venezuelan oil company last week which will provide cheap fuel for London’s bus fleet, and discounted bus and tram travel for London residents on benefits. The ‘Energy Funding Contribution and Co-operation Agreement’ follows negotiations between Livingstone and Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. Transport for London will be entitled to a rebate from PDVE of 20% of the annual fuel bill fo

Transport for London has concluded its three-year trial of a small fleet of fuel cell buses and has confirmed that plans to procure an eventual fleet of 70 vehicles by 2010 are now well advanced. The three trial vehicles began operation in early 2004 on the First London-operated RV1 Riverside route along London’s South Bank. The trial was conducted as part of the Europe-wide CUTE initiative  which has seen a total of 27 of the vehicles operated in nine cities across Europe. Once de

Road user charging received a boost last week when Sir Rod Eddington’s transport study offered it strong support. “Given the scale of the congestion challenge, I believe that there is no attractive alternative to road pricing,” the former British Airways chief executive stated in his report. “Without a widespread scheme by 2015, the UK will require very significantly more transport infrastructure.” Eddington warned of the “very significant  risks an

A new report by South Yorkshire PTE on how it intends to deliver its bus strategy has recommended to the region’s PTA members that it continue work in investigating the possibility of introducing Quality Contracts in the conurbation. However the PTE’s the report, which was presented to members last week, reveals that no decision will be taken on whether to apply for powers for the introduction of bus franchising until after transport secretary Douglas Alexander outlines his plans

London mayor Ken Livingstone last week issued a challenge to UK bus manufacturers when he announced that the first to produce a workable and competitive diesel-electric hybrid powered range of vehicles would scoop the lion’s share of future London bus orders. Livingstone made his comments at the City Hall launch of the first hybrid double deck bus in the world. The vehicle, which has been produced by Northern Ireland-based Wrightbus, will enter service with Arriva on route 141 between

The UK’s traffic commissioners should be given extra powers in order to guarantee the quality of bus services, the Commons transport committee has said. The committee’s report into bus services in the UK commends the work done by the commissioners, despite their limited numbers and resources. “The commissioners need a much higher profile and more resources - both in terms of money and people,” it states.“This is an important investment for the future of the bus i

AMID intense lobbying for re-regulation of the bus industry at this autumn’s political party conferences, a new report commissioned by PTEG has claimed that bus use in Britain’s major cities is likely to continue to fall without greater public control over services. PTEG claims that the report by economic consultancy NERA adds weight to its campaign to get buses re-regulated, which already has the support of more than 100 MPs. The report was published in the run-up to the twent

Stagecoach this week began a two week trial of a bioethanol powered bus at five of its bus operating subsidiaries around the country. It is the first trial of the vehicle outside London and the move could lead to the group’s vehicles being powered by the sugar beet-based fuel in the future. Stagecoach chief executive Brian Souter said: “Buses are already helping the environment by reducing the number of car journeys in our towns and cities, but we are always looking at ways to im

THE FACT that buses are undermining climate change policy should be the final straw for the government to reregulate outside London, the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee has stated following its inquiry into reducing carbon emissions from transport. The committee acknowledged that buses can make “a significant contribution to carbon reductions”, but only if they attract more motorists out of their cars. However, it pointed out that the government’s 2006 Climate

Irisbus  unveiled a new high quality bus product at a public transport exhibition in Paris last week. Built in France, the ‘Crealis’ is based on the manufacturer’s Citelis bus, but the exterior and interior styling has been overhauled to create a product that IrisBus believe will have greater appeal than a conventional bus. The concept is similar to the StreetCar vehicle designed by First Group and Wrightbus, which is based on a Volvo bus chassis. Irisbus had previous